The Yeshiva University College Bowl Team has progressed in recent years from a small club to a nationwide trivia force. Yet, despite the growth enjoyed under the leadership of team founder Zvi Rosen, Yeshiva was initially denied a spot in what may be the toughest section nationally, the East, which is packed with Ivy League and large state schools with well-established teams. In particular, Boston University posed a serious challenge to YU's bid to compete in the tournament; despite Yeshiva's four game winning streak against the Terriers, as a host of the sectionals, BU secured an automatic bid. For reasons that remain unknown, Boston withdrew from the NAQT ICT, better known as the College Bowl Championships, and Yeshiva University was invited to take their place.

This meant that the team went for the first time to the Intercollegiate Championship Tournament held the weekend of April 6-7, 2001 at Washington University in St. Louis. Yeshiva was one of the twenty-four selected to be in Division II, gleaned from a pool of over one hundred teams from the United States and Canada. Despite the handicap of not being able to use electronic buzzers in most tournaments, YU earned the final berth, ahead of Wisconsin, California Tech, Duke, Dartmouth, and North Carolina. The team consisted of Zvi Rosen, David Druce, and valuable addition Ben Franz .

The team, ranked 24th, began the tournament with a one-question loss against Chicago, in which Yeshiva protested the validity of the last answer. After review, the question was thrown out as inaccurate, a new one was read, and Chicago won again. After losses to Georgetown and Florida, YU finally tallied a solid win against Maryland. The night finished with a loss to eventual tournament runner-up Emory. The following day, Yeshiva lost a close match to Missouri-Rolla, and was beaten soundly by Stanford, Carleton, and traditional rival NYU. Convincing wins came against USC, Northwestern, and Michigan.

For a better playoff spot after it was knotted in a three-way-tie between YU, Rolla, and NYU, Yeshiva beat Rolla in the first half of a special game and then defeated NYU in the second half of the match. The four-game playoff came against Occidental, University of the South [Sewanee], Yale, and Brandeis. YU lost all matches, and in the final tally, YU finished ranked 16th, despite carrying a small three-player team with no substitutes. Pittsburgh captured the Division II title, and Chicago defeated Michigan to win the National Championship.

The championships offered the Yeshiva team a number of opportunities. For David Druce, who spent his childhood in a St. Louis suburb, it was a homecoming during which he placed 15th nationally for his individual score; Rosen, despite a severe cold, finished 34th. The overall statistics cannot, however, reflect the dominance that Rosen displayed in classical music and that Franz sported in cinema.

The trio, joined by Moti Schledier and Eric Guttman, finished off their season at the Princeton tournament, earning a 6-10 record. The team plans to raise its profile next year, with increased recruiting, weekly intramurals, an improved webpage, a high school tournament, and possible collaboration with NYU and Columbia towards hosting a New York event. "There is no question that YU has the talent to be a top team nationally. But those people with special talent must attend, especially in the sciences and literature," summed up one insider.